Syracuse, N.Y. -- His cold strategy all along may have been to use his alma mater as a steppingstone to a head job in the NFL. And it was hardly a secret that his affinity for his boss, Daryl Gross, did wane through the years. So maybe nobody should have been surprised when Doug Marrone answered The League's call last winter and left Syracuse University in a blur for the Buffalo Bills.

But there was another factor, too, in Marrone's fleeing his "dream job" after just four seasons on the Orange bridge. And that was our town's studied reluctance to turn the Carrier Dome into what it was unwittingly built to be: The most profound home-field advantage in all of college football.

Oh, how it used to frost Marrone, who'd mock the announced attendance figures, that his SU clubs drew roughly half a house for so many of their dates in the Dome. How it bothered him that recruits would take in games, see rows and rows of empty pews, and shake their heads before pledging their allegiance to others. How it exasperated him to know that his potentially greatest asset had become the wart on the nose of his program.

"If we could fill this place," he'd say in his office, which featured a blown-up photo of a rare large crowd in the Dome on his wall, "that would make things so much easier."

Simply, he understood. Doug Marrone, who played once upon a time for the Orange and then coached it to an overall record of 25-25 (and to a pair of bowl triumphs) between 2009-'12, understood that while the gray Dome would never win a beauty pageant, it was meant to be the greatest "X" factor in his sport. And if it ever developed into such, victories would naturally follow on the order of cause and effect.

Mix in that low Dome roof . . . with that flat, dry, carpeted Dome surface built for speed and offense . . . with that collection of 49,000 Dome seats crowding the field in their claustrophobic way . . . with that dead Dome air which makes mere breathing a chore . . . with that Dome noise which can't drift off anywhere and therefore can make hearing those quarterback audibles so difficult . . . and, well, you've got the most unique set of physical circumstances in the country.

Just because our town has failed to do its part to make the Dome all but hiss doesn't make the joint any less of a cauldron. Or, OK, any less of a potential cauldron.

But, sigh, it is what it is. It is No. 78 in one poll rather than top-ranked in another. Which is a big reason why the Orange has won just 74 of its last 170 contests, why it's on its fourth head coach in nine campaigns and why Doug Marrone is pulling on his visor these days in Buffalo.

We have a monster, a gray one, here in our town. We truly, honestly do. But the monster has mostly snoozed. Which, sadly, makes it not much of a monster at all.

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Here is the usual weekly “ schedule of events” in Bud Poliquin’s corner of syracuse.com:

MONDAY -- By 7 a.m.: The daily column/commentary. By 11:30 a.m.: “How’d I Do?” By 6 p.m.: “Ask Me Anything” by submitting questions (to which I’ll give answers) on any sports-related topic to bpoliquin@syracuse.com. (Please include your name and the identity of your hometown.)

TUESDAY -- By 7 a.m.: The daily column/commentary. By 11:30 a.m.: “Coach’s Corner,” wherein readers can submit questions to any coach at any level in Central New York (and answers will be posted) to bpoliquin@syracuse.com. (Please include name and hometown.) By 6 p.m.: “The Video Store.”

WEDNESDAY -- By 7 a.m.: The daily column/commentary. By 11:30 a.m.: “The List.” By 6 p.m.: “E-Mail Of The Week,” wherein readers can submit legitimate essays/open letters/observations for purposes of posting to bpoliquin@syracuse.com. (Please include name and hometown.)